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A group of disgruntled Mylan investors launched a campaign late Tuesday to block the re-election of six directors over their exorbitant—and increasing—compensation. That’s according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

In a letter sent to fellow shareholders, the group lambasted hefty bonuses and salary increases that came as the company faced backlash for the skyrocketing price of its life-saving EpiPen devices. Such outrage is likely to continue given that a new government report released today suggests that Mylan overcharged taxpayers $1.27 billion dollars for EpiPens over 10 years.

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The ongoing EpiPen pricing scandal has caused Mylan "significant reputational and financial harm," the investors complained. Yet directors continued to be rewarded. The investors were particularly critical of Chairman Robert Coury, who received more than $160 million in compensation in 2016 and will receive a $1.8 million per year “cash retainer” as part of a deal made with Mylan last year. Trade publication FiercePharma reports that Coury is the highest-paid executive in the drug industry.

“Mylan’s board reached new lows in corporate stewardship in 2016 when it agreed to make extraordinary and egregious payments in 2016 and over the next five years,” the investors wrote in the letter.

That letter is signed by four institutional investors: New York City and New York State pension funds, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, and Dutch pension fund PGGM. Together, they own about 4.3 million shares of Mylan, which represents less than one percent of its outstanding shares, the Wall Street Journal reports. As such, the group’s protest is more of a high-profile flap than a real threat to the six directors, who are all running unopposed.

But frustration has been mounting among investors over Mylan’s greedy ways. Last year, more than a third of investors voted against the company’s compensation plans. And the EpiPen scandal has hit share prices. Although they’re up four-fold since 2002, share prices have fallen by 10 percent in the past 12 months, the AP notes.

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Things might get worse: today, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services released an analysis (PDF) that estimated how much Mylan overcharged taxpayers for its EpiPens. By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government.

"By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government."

How is the fine less than the profits they made off of the offense? How is that any deterrent to stop this kind of behavior?

The only way that this kind of corporate behavior will be stopped is to hold those directors criminally liable: it would be nice if companies could be held accountable for the deaths of those that could no longer afford the medication but the most they would likely be charged is with billing fraud.

"By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government."

How is the fine less than the profits they made off of the offense? How is that any deterrent to stop this kind of behavior?

Deterrent? That isn't how government oversight works. That would imply they didn't want a cushy job with Mylan after they retire.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

The only way that this kind of corporate behavior will be stopped is to hold those directors criminally liable: it would be nice if companies could be held accountable for the deaths of those that could no longer afford the medication but the most they would likely be charged is with billing fraud.

for this Recently, CMS provided records to the Committee that show CMS told Mylan on several occasions that the EpiPen was misclassified, yet Mylan failed to correct the classification. Mylan has repeatedly refused to provide its records of those communications with CMS to the Committee. you bet your ass they should be in prison.

"By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government."

How is the fine less than the profits they made off of the offense? How is that any deterrent to stop this kind of behavior?

Hopefully, the shareholders can argue that the directors, by doing this, are increasing the visibility and thus the risk that they'll lose the contract altogether.

Better to take $300 million in profit in a guaranteed contract than to take $1.27 billion, pay $465 million in fines, and bring a ton of visibility and congressional hearings that might make you lose the whole contract...

"By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government."

How is the fine less than the profits they made off of the offense? How is that any deterrent to stop this kind of behavior?

It's not a deterrent, that $465 million-dollars bribe fineis likely to be wasted invested on pet projects related to the bureaucrats' responsible for the settlement.

"By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government."

How is the fine less than the profits they made off of the offense? How is that any deterrent to stop this kind of behavior?

By fining ANY corporation like this the corporations have every incentive to do what Mylan has done.

This is how it should read, "In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay $653 million to settle the issue with the government payable immediately in addition to reimbursing the government $1.27 billion over the next 2 years without fail and without any legal recourse."

EDIT (adding): And the executives are stripped of any money they received during this time also without fail and without any legal recourse.

And if that puts them in the toilet financially they need to consider all the potential deaths they very well could have caused.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

It isn't entirely uncommon for corporate malfeasance like this to result in the death penalty. Or serious hard labor in some godforsaken hell-hole of a province.

Here, nothing will come of it. At worst, Bresch and Company will get jettisoned and pull the ripcords on their golden parachutes, walking away with a few hundred million each for their trouble.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

They really aren't. When you hear about China cracking down on corruption, those are just people that fell out of favor of the party or got a little too greedy being publicly dealt with as a warning. Corruption and graft is what their entire economy is built on, it's not going anywhere any time soon.

But frustration has been mounting among investors over Mylan’s greedy ways. Last year, more than a third of investors voted against the company’s compensation plans.

Good luck with trying to block that. These compensations tend to be iron-clad on the contracts belonging to the executives, and unlike the rest of us mortals they can afford the best lawyers to ensure that all that sweet money keeps on flowing towards them.

It's not evil; it's amoral. It's like the paperclip problem in AI. When all the AI cares about is making paperclips it'll destroy civilization itself to do so.

When the only incentive is to increase profits, that's what all actors will do. They'll export all the harmful externalities they can, not because they want to hurt people, but because by exporting the externalities each actor's individual profits are maximized.

All corporations care about (in their current legal configuration) is increasing profits. They aren't actively trying to hurt people. They genuinely don't care whether or not people are hurt.

Morals (good or bad) are imposed on capitalism from the outside. The markets themselves are amoral.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

They really aren't. When you hear about China cracking down on corruption, those are just people that fell out of favor of the party or got a little too greedy being publicly dealt with as a warning. Corruption and graft is what their entire economy is built on, it's not going anywhere any time soon.

As if the way our government is run by a small cabal of billionaires is any different. Good god that sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, but the cabinet and the president actually are just a bunch of nutjob billionaires. Congress isn't much different, just multimillionaires and a few billionaires.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

They really aren't. When you hear about China cracking down on corruption, those are just people that fell out of favor of the party or got a little too greedy being publicly dealt with as a warning. Corruption and graft is what their entire economy is built on, it's not going anywhere any time soon.

Yeah, the only upside to graft in generically all of Southeast Asia is that a larger portion of it is more democratic and distributed among the people. Want to get a visa quicker, hand the guy handling the paperwork an extra $20. In the US, all of our graft is trickle-down economics, where much of the rest of the world it is in tiers and you have to pay out a little more at each step. Basically, their public servants and regulators work for tips like US waitstaff.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

They really aren't. When you hear about China cracking down on corruption, those are just people that fell out of favor of the party or got a little too greedy being publicly dealt with as a warning. Corruption and graft is what their entire economy is built on, it's not going anywhere any time soon.

Yeah, the only upside to graft in generically all of Southeast Asia is that a larger portion of it is more democratic and distributed among the people. Want to get a visa quicker, hand the guy handling the paperwork an extra $20. In the US, all of our graft is trickle-down economics, where much of the rest of the world it is in tiers and you have to pay out a little more at each step. Basically, their public servants and regulators work for tips like US waitstaff.

But frustration has been mounting among investors over Mylan’s greedy ways. Last year, more than a third of investors voted against the company’s compensation plans.

Good luck with trying to block that. These compensations tend to be iron-clad on the contracts belonging to the executives, and unlike the rest of us mortals they can afford the best lawyers to ensure that all that sweet money keeps on flowing towards them.

When the government is involved in receiving goods for taxpayer money the corporations need to be held 100% accountable. Taking money illicitly from the government they are 100% responsible regardless of the contract they were given. Don't get me wrong I'm all for keeping the government out of the private sector as much as possible but stuff like this NEEDS to be the exception.

The government needs to start putting checks in their contracts to prevent this and include extremely stiff financial penalties and jail time for those directly involved.

There was a story on reuters about how China is stamping down on corruption, and bribery. I hate to say it, but china is beating the US in addressing corporate greed. Not that their overall communist party is better, but less greed is always a good thing IMO

They really aren't. When you hear about China cracking down on corruption, those are just people that fell out of favor of the party or got a little too greedy being publicly dealt with as a warning. Corruption and graft is what their entire economy is built on, it's not going anywhere any time soon.

What's your point? Even when people fall out of favor with the ruling US oligarchy AND have a great deal of public pressure, they still get away on their golden parachute in the US. Even targeting only a few who "got too greedy" is far more than anything we do.

We need a corporate death penalty and these directors cuffed and jailed.

While I'm all for executives and directors facing punishment, corporate death penalties have serious flaws.

What happens to the products that Mylan makes in the case of a corporate death penalty? Another company can't just step in and start producing them.

What happens to the 35,000 people employed by Mylan who are suddenly out a paycheck and can't pay their mortgages and rents?

What happens to the companies who have contracts with the company to provide goods and services?

What happens to the investors who hold $15 billion in Mylan stock, much of it tied up in 401(k) accounts and IRAs?

Lawsuits against the directors and executives won't solve these issues. They would drag out over months or years, as would any wrangling over companies to pick up the assets. The damage would be enormous and well beyond the ability of any lawsuit to cure.

Fire the board and the executive team, nationalize the company until a bankruptcy judge can sell the shares off to new owners. Not that hard to do, really. Just like any other corporate merger/sale.

We need a corporate death penalty and these directors cuffed and jailed.

While I'm all for executives and directors facing punishment, corporate death penalties have serious flaws.

What happens to the products that Mylan makes in the case of a corporate death penalty? Another company can't just step in and start producing them.

What happens to the 35,000 people employed by Mylan who are suddenly out a paycheck and can't pay their mortgages and rents?

What happens to the companies who have contracts with the company to provide goods and services?

What happens to the investors who hold $15 billion in Mylan stock, much of it tied up in 401(k) accounts and IRAs?

Lawsuits against the directors and executives won't solve these issues. They would drag out over months or years, as would any wrangling over companies to pick up the assets. The damage would be enormous and well beyond the ability of any lawsuit to cure.

Honestly, that sounds like a win to me. Want to keep your job and your investments? Don't work for crooked companies and don't invest in crooked companies. That'd do more to fix corporate morality than any individual oversights--you'd be appropriating greed itself to preclude evil results of greed. Also outright jail the people in charge of the liquidated companies.

But frustration has been mounting among investors over Mylan’s greedy ways. Last year, more than a third of investors voted against the company’s compensation plans.

Good luck with trying to block that. These compensations tend to be iron-clad on the contracts belonging to the executives, and unlike the rest of us mortals they can afford the best lawyers to ensure that all that sweet money keeps on flowing towards them.

More to the point - the executives hold the majority of shares. It probably wouldn't matter if ALL investors outside their circle voted against the increase - votes are counted per share, not per owner, so it's at best a show of no-confidence without much actual impact.

We need a corporate death penalty and these directors cuffed and jailed.

While I'm all for executives and directors facing punishment, corporate death penalties have serious flaws.

What happens to the products that Mylan makes in the case of a corporate death penalty? Another company can't just step in and start producing them.

What happens to the 35,000 people employed by Mylan who are suddenly out a paycheck and can't pay their mortgages and rents?

What happens to the companies who have contracts with the company to provide goods and services?

Why not? It's not like the executives do any actual day-to-day production work. That falls on middle managers and those who work under them. While it may have its downsides, I don't see how such a thing is in any way infeasible.

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What happens to the investors who hold $15 billion in Mylan stock, much of it tied up in 401(k) accounts and IRAs?

They'd be boned, just like those who've seen their holding shrink by over 10% in the last year were boned. Stocks don't come without risk. Investing in a company that drips slime carries quite a bit of it.

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Lawsuits against the directors and executives won't solve these issues. They would drag out over months or years, as would any wrangling over companies to pick up the assets. The damage would be enormous and well beyond the ability of any lawsuit to cure.

Agree that lawsuits of this sort aren't going to work. Better to just cut to the chase and imprison these societal leeches before they do any more harm.

But frustration has been mounting among investors over Mylan’s greedy ways. Last year, more than a third of investors voted against the company’s compensation plans.

Good luck with trying to block that. These compensations tend to be iron-clad on the contracts belonging to the executives, and unlike the rest of us mortals they can afford the best lawyers to ensure that all that sweet money keeps on flowing towards them.

When the government is involved in receiving goods for taxpayer money the corporations need to be held 100% accountable. Taking money illicitly from the government they are 100% responsible regardless of the contract they were given. Don't get me wrong I'm all for keeping the government out of the private sector as much as possible but stuff like this NEEDS to be the exception.

The government needs to start putting checks in their contracts to prevent this and include extremely stiff financial penalties and jail time for those directly involved.

The sad part is that these compensations/bonuses/severance packages are legal. Hence the reason why despite the outrage, CEOs like Marissa Mayer and Elizabeth Holmes can drive companies to the ground and still get multi-million bonuses. Like I said, they can afford the best lawyers.

By misclassifying the devices, the company stiffed the Medicaid rebate program by as much as $1.27 billion between 2006 and 2016, the report concludes. In October, Mylan reportedly agreed to pay just $465 million to settle the issue with the government.

Rip-off taxpayers for $1.27 billion, settle the issue for $465 and net over $800 million from your corrupt actions.

And of course no jail time.

Would rather have these assholes in jail for 10 years than a pot dealer, but for some reason ripping off the community of millions of dollars isn't against "good Christian values" like selling marijuana.

We need a corporate death penalty and these directors cuffed and jailed.

While I'm all for executives and directors facing punishment, corporate death penalties have serious flaws.

What happens to the products that Mylan makes in the case of a corporate death penalty? Another company can't just step in and start producing them.

What happens to the 35,000 people employed by Mylan who are suddenly out a paycheck and can't pay their mortgages and rents?

What happens to the companies who have contracts with the company to provide goods and services?

What happens to the investors who hold $15 billion in Mylan stock, much of it tied up in 401(k) accounts and IRAs?

Lawsuits against the directors and executives won't solve these issues. They would drag out over months or years, as would any wrangling over companies to pick up the assets. The damage would be enormous and well beyond the ability of any lawsuit to cure.

Structured bankruptcy is a pretty obvious solution to this problem. Frankly, I'm glad that the US has punitive fines unlike Europe, because simple restitution is rarely sufficient to systemically discourage profitable bad behavior. In fact, I'd take it a step further, corporate malfeasance should be fined/forced to pay out a mandatory 150% of the estimated damages to the injured parties. That would solve a lot of our regulatory problems we have instantly, since ever C-level shitbag in the country would be crapping their pants over the idea of getting caught essentially resulting in bankruptcy.

As if the way our government is run by a small cabal of billionaires is any different. Good god that sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, but the cabinet and the president actually are just a bunch of nutjob billionaires. Congress isn't much different, just multimillionaires and a few billionaires.

Congress isn't *any* different.

US Senator Joseph Manchin III (D-W.Va.) is the father of Mylan's Heather Bresch.

Sorry, but the number of individuals who are worth 160 million per year in value added to their company can probably be listed on one hand. That is a ridiculous sum of money.

Meh. The amount itself doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the way Bresch came by it - by throttling patients and their insurance companies using near-monopolistic market control, and the threat of suffering and death as the alternative.

Take another couple of guys - Andrew Schmeder and Don McPherson, who invented the Enchroma eyeglass lens that effectively eliminates color blindness in a broad range of those who suffer from it, and view just some of the many online videos of people receiving them, and literally bursting into tears at the improvement to their vision. Seeing an 8 year old kid go through this, it makes me want to throw money at Schmeder and McPherson, and I have no problem whatsoever with them filling their personal vaults thanks to their remarkable and reasonably-priced product, which costs little more (or even less) than a pair of ordinary prescription glasses.

Bresch deserves nothing but scorn, not because of the precise amount of her compensation, but because she is evil.